Fairytale Figments
by Royal blueKitsune
Summary: Together they made a not so ordinary fairytale. But who really needed glorified princes and wilting princesses in the end? SesshoumaruxKagome
1. Chapter 1

I'm dabbling in this fandom again. Another community, more stories. Go figure...

Written for the 100_fairytales community on LJ. Enjoy!

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_The fox as shepherd_

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The human mind is such a strange thing.

He thinks - as he watches her sleep ever so soundly - that he could reach forward and wring her neck at any given moment. It would be _easy_. She wouldn't probably feel a thing.

_After all, he's had experience. Lots of it. His name isn't only an idea - it's a promise. He is the epitome of the perfect assassin - silent, knowledgeable, swift._

And the girl is so delicate and _small_. She pretends that they are old friends, instead of tentative allies - she bares her throat to him, allows him to guard her dreams, trusts him enough to overlook his past grievances against her and his foolish brother.

_Kagome conveniently chooses to forget the fact that he tried to poison her once and Sesshoumaru idly ignores the fact that she tried to shoot an arrow at him a long time ago._

So he wonders what possesses him to just sit here, by the warm fire, and watch over a mortal's sleep. He feels daunted by the trust she - this Kagome girl - puts in him. It reminds him that there's another child, sleeping just as soundly, a few feet away who puts an equal measure of trust in him as well.

It reminds him that he is getting _soft_.

Sesshoumaru does _not_ like it. He dislikes this willing _state of servitude_ and the particular sense of petulance that accompanies it. He wants to shed this skin of weakness and the mask of humanity and _rip_ into something.

Anything

_Kagome._

But he doesn't...

He sits by the fire and plays the role of a protector.

_The fox as shepherd._

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Sesshoumaru is overthinking things. Oh well...


	2. Chapter 2

I have no idea where this is all going, but I had fun with this piece. ^^;

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_Blood-brothers_

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_Why does Inuyasha have to be such a pain in the behind?_ Kagome wondered, barely able to hold back her exasperated sigh. _I mean how hard can it be to behave civilly...?_

"Kagome! I thought I told you to walk by _my_ side! I don't want you so close to that bastard!" Inuyasha bellowed over his shoulder from up in front. Next to him, Miroku _actually_ made himself a tad smaller and Sango blushed in obvious embarrassment. Shippou fluffed up his tail and Kirara tried to make herself scarce under her mistress's hair.

Kagome didn't dare look at Sesshoumaru who was walking just a few feet behind her. She was afraid that she was going to see _that_ look in his eyes; the one he'd sport each and every time Inuyasha tried to belittle him.

She'd seen it already a total of ten times in three days - in Sesshoumaru's defense, a day with Inuyasha and his smart mouth could be absurdly _long_ - and the aftermath had _always_ been something along that lines of 'Inuyasha in a tree', 'Inuyasha in a river', 'Inuyasha over a sharp cliff'...

Sesshoumaru's youki flared a bit and Kagome tensed a bit. _This had to stop or it would become a tradition soon._

"Sit boy! Sit, sit, sit!" Were four sits enough to make up for a possible flight over the waterfall - which they had barely passed? Hopefully, Sesshoumaru's ego would think so (if egos could actually have cognitive thoughts)...she'd hate to use more bandages because her rash friend couldn't bite his tongue. Her supplies were already running low enough!

Inuyasha crashed into the ground at top speed and Kagome prepared herself for another would-be tradition which was going to start in 3 2 1...

"You ungrateful brat!" Jaken screeched from his place besides Rin - who seemed completely integrated in their little group - waving his staff around like a club. "How dare you speak in such an insulting manner to the honorable lord Sesshoumaru? You aren't even worthy to kiss his boots..."

_Yadda yadda yadda..._ Kagome bypassed her fallen friend, mentally applauding him for still being able to mumble foul words around a mouthful of dirt - and raised her hand to rub the bridge of her nose; feeling a headache beginning to form there. It was a hot summery day, her clothes were stifling - despite the fact that she was wearing her summer uniform - and no one seemed to be able to _shut up_.

She looked forward to Sango, who was in the middle of slapping Miroku for something or another, and both girls rolled their eyes.

"Serves you right. The wench gave you a good lesson!" Jaken continued his rant to a now pissed-off Inuyasha who looked ready to make space for Jaken next to him...or three feet under.

"Ja-ken!" Kagome growled pivoting on her heel, ready to give the little monster a piece of her mind.

"Jaken..." Sesshoumaru intoned blandly.

"Yes, My Lord?" The retainer squeaked, managing to kill his verbose rather abruptly.

"You are too noisy." The tedious duty of explaining now over, Sesshoumaru pressed the heel of his palm on the hilt of his sword, sending the tip into Jaken's back _and_ Jaken flying over a tree.

The miko gaped at the scene. _No...way._

"Oh, don't worry, lady Kagome," Rin chimed, somehow having moved by her side without her noticing. "Master Jaken loves his flying lessons! Lord Sesshoumaru gives them to him daily!" The little girl bobbed her head enthusiastically and her ponytail agreed with her.

Kagome blinked.

Inuyasha was spitting mud, Jaken was probably swimming in that waterfall, Sango was slapping Miroku, the children were picking flowers - roots and all - and Sesshoumaru had just bothered to stop Jaken from annoying her unworthy, human self. On purpose.

And it wasn't even noon yet.

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Sesshoumaru wouldn't admit it in a hundred years but he did help Kagome. xD


	3. Chapter 3

Happy New Year guys! It's belated yes, but I wish you all good things (health, happiness, peace, love...any of you interested in having more money in the middle of the crisis? Because I can wish for those as well xDD)

Next installment for y'all. En-joy! ^^;

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_Dirty _(get your minds out of the gutter...not _that_ type of dirty! _Yet_)

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Kagome was beginning to think that maybe she should've sat Inuyasha when he'd pulled her out of her bedding in the morning; jabbering excitedly about a rumor he'd picked up, about a shard of the Shikon no Tama being close by.

She wasn't sure how he had found something like that without letting the others know, but the day had _surely_ been a string of disasters - one by one coming to take their toll on her sanity - and the odds didn't seem to be in her favor any more than they had been a few hours ago.

And what was worse...

"Just _what_ is it that you find so funny, _Inu_yasha?"

"He's _such_ a glutton for punishment," Sango confided crossly to Miroku a few feet behind her. "I'm almost hoping that Kagome-chan will give it to him good this time..."

"Now, now, Sango-dearest..."

The rest of their _hush-hush_ conversation was lost in Inuyasha's muffled _snrrrrrk_ and Kagome's steadily increasing ire.

An angry Kagome. A dirty Kagome who had had the incredible bad luck of getting thrown face-first into a body of water, supposedly a lake (at least in the local villagers' opinion) in a heroic effort to slay the - also local - youkai. _Centipede_ youkai. Lots of them.

Kagome hated centipede youkai. She hated Inuyasha right now...and since she was on the subject of hating something, she also currently hated Sesshoumaru - who'd lifted a hand, fluttered a sleeve and used his whip to slay his opponents (all without actually _moving_ anywhere; unlike her flailing, ungraceful self) and she hated Sesshoumaru's pretty hair and stupid, pristine clothes which had some sort of demon dirt repellent...

Oh, and she really hated how she hadn't been able to look at him for the last half an hour because she knew that she reeked. And she applied the term reeked to her human senses, not to those of a youkai (yet another reason for him to think that humans like her were filthy...literally).

"You-_you_..." Inuyasha guffawed, looking as red as his clothes and obviously finding _something_ funny. Maybe it was that one algae that she hadn't managed to remove from her hair yet...and that other one that has somehow latched itself to the clasp of her bra. "You should've seen yourself _fly_ over Sesshoumaru's head. I don't think I've seen even him move that fast! And then, and _then_" he gesticulated wildly towards the - now - homicidal slayer whose suit didn't exactly allow a quick dry...

"_Sit_ boy!" Kagome groused, already too disgusted of herself to turn killer on anyone. "Thank you for the short recap of the worst day of our lives. All five of us..."

"Six," Sesshoumaru interjected calmly, bypassing her at a leisurely pace with a cringing Rin and an even greener Jaken on his heels.

"...hope th-that your nose-uh falls off?" Kagome continued, not knowing whether to scream, stutter or panic at the fact that the mighty Lord of the Western Lands could read her mind.

"Whoa, talk about humiliation." Shippou chattered in the background of her already crumbling perception of the fearless assassin. Already this was the second time they were interacting, in her advantage, in the span of two days.

Was the sky on the verge of falling or something?

"I heard that," Inuyasha growled around a healthy mouth of grass, trying to get up. "You bah-tards!"

The situation was either getting worse because Sesshoumaru had spoken or better _because_ Sesshoumaru had spoken, she thought to herself wryly; wondering if maybe it wasn't too much to presume that Sesshoumaru didn't think of her in the you-don't-exist kind of way anymore, but more in the we'll-cooperate-because-we-have-to kind of way.

_At least he isn't overtly complaining about the way we all smell. If I didn't know him better...but apparently I don't know him that well anyway. Sesshoumaru defending me against Jaken, Sesshoumaru snarking against Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru the mind-reader - _a parallel universe as far as she was concerned.

"Perhaps, lady Kagome," Miroku suggested, discreetly elbowing an amused Sango, "we should all _redirect_ our attentions towards finding a suitable bathing facility? I am sure that the three of us would benefit from the wonders of hot water and your _wonderfully_ efficient soap." His smile widened to blinding degrees as his gaze fell on Inuyasha. "And perhaps Inuyasha would too...?"

"No way!" Inuyasha shot out of the ground at the speed of light. "No fu-"

"Sit, boy!" Kagome countered before Rin was forced to listen to the f-word yet _again_. "A bath would be heavenly-and yes Inuyasha, you're also gonna take one...if I have to sit you constantly to keep you submerged!"

She turned on her heel and nearly ran into Sesshoumaru - who'd suddenly decided to teleport himself behind her!

Kagome squeaked.

Sesshoumaru stared over her at his brother (pretty much ignoring her) and Kagome struggled to calm her rapidly beating heart. The rest of the group had barely noticed - being too busy fantasizing about the miracle of being clean - but she was _too_ conscious of him not to be skittish.

_He was_ really_ tall up-close like this..._

She cleared her throat and tried..."Um, may I help you Sesshoumaru-/isama/i?"

Sesshoumaru shifted his gaze towards her with a sort of unnerving grace which normally didn't apply to a pair of eyes.

Kagome uneasily counted the seconds of silence.

Behind her Inuyasha grumbled something as foul as the water still clinging to her skin.

"The monk mentioned that you needed...bathing facilities."

_Where was he getting at?_ "Yes, we do. Would you..." On a scale from 1 to 10, how insulting would it be if she asked him to sniff out a hot spring? Inuyasha - kinda - could...but then Inuyasha wouldn't _kinda_ cut her to ribbons for her insolence. And she could always sit her rowdy friend and...

"You will force Inuyasha to take a bath." The youkai Lord stated primly, managing to make what was normally a question, into an imperious demand.

And if Kagome thought that the request was, in the least, odd - which she did seeing as it was coming from a totally disinterested party like Sesshoumaru - she tried very hard not to show it. "Of course we will. If we managed to do it last month, we'll manage just fine now. Though," she scratched the back of her head with an affected laugh, "I guess that it'll take us a few hours until we manage to find anything decent to wash. He might try to run away now that he knows..."

"There is a human village close by," Sesshoumaru stated, curtly signaling to a panicky Jaken (in Kagome's opinion, Jaken's memory of the waterfall was still a bit too vivid) to call Ah-Un and Rin back from where they'd ran forward. "You will be able to do as you please there," he added with a hint of distaste, before turning his back on her and resuming .

"Why?" Kagome asked bluntly. "Why are you helping me? I thought that you weren't interested in anything but destroying Naraku."

Sesshoumaru paused and turned his head to look at her from over his shoulder, "Inuyasha is taking a bath."

Kagome drew a blank. And another blank. And another...

Then froze when Sesshoumaru's lower lip faintly curled upwards and his eyes slanted at the corners.

"No matter. It is no concern of yours."

This time, when he turned away from her, Kagome didn't stop him.

_Oh my God...oh my_ God_...oh my_ GOD! _Smirk, handsome smirk, devilish smile, Sesshoumaru smirking down at her...something wrongwrong_wrong...

"What happened to you, wench?" Inuyasha grouched, coming up from behind her looking worse for the wear. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Kagome raised her eyes to look at him, blinked and then fainted right into his arms.

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Pity that Kagome didn't have a camera to immortalize that cunning smile. It was probably worth millions. xDD


End file.
